Marketing Communications

322 CHAPTER 10 PUBLIC RELATIONS

Attracting and keeping high-quality personnel and improving the image of the PR profession

have become priorities for PR executives and management in general. Measuring the eff ect

of PR is a diffi cult task. PR departments will have to upgrade their function into a strategic

tool for top management and, consequently, will have to develop the tools to prove their

eff ectiveness in supporting the company’s long-term profi t base. PR, as with all other forms

of marketing communications, will have to adapt to the opportunities and threats and, more

generally, the environment created by new technologies such as business television, the

Internet and smart telephony.

Good PR is based on a PR plan that contains the same fundamentals as any other com-

munications plan. Target groups or audiences have to be defi ned, and the objectives and

messages to be conveyed have to be determined. Communications channels, tools and

instruments have to be put in place, and timing and a budget have to be decided on. Th e PR

plan has to be implemented, and its eff ectiveness has to be measured. Diff erent types of PR

can be defi ned. Depending on the type of PR, diff erent target groups, objectives and tools can

be distinguished.

Using a Delphi research method, a 2007 study surveyed the attitudes and ideas of academic and professional PR

experts and CEOs of PR companies worldwide. The study had four objectives: identify the gaps between academic

research and industry needs; identify current and new trends in research from theorist and practitioner perspectives;

map out the best way for knowledge to be exchanged; and define the research areas for which funding can be sought.

Participants were asked to rank PR research topics in a priority order from 1 (top priority) to 10 (10th priority). The

results were as follows (numbers in brackets refer to the average priority given by the respondents):^14

1. PR’s contribution to strategic decision-making, strategy development and realisation and efficient operation of
   organisations (2.37).


2. The value that PR creates for organisations through building social capital and managing key relationships (3.43).


3. The measurement and evaluation of PR both offline and online (4.17).


4. PR as a fundamental management function (4.35).


5. Professional skills in PR, analysis of the industry’s need for education (4.68).


6. Research into standards of performance among PR professionals, the licensing of practitioners (5.90).


7. Management of corporate reputation, management of reputation (6.00).


8. Ethics in PR (6.29).


9. Integration of PR with other communications functions, the scope of PR practice, discipline boundaries (6.35).


10. Management of relationships (6.69).

RESEARCH INSIGHT

Priorities for public relations research of academics and professionals

Target groups, objectives and tasks

As indicated above, publics, audiences or stakeholders are groups of people or organisations

to whom the company is not directly selling products, but whose favourable opinion can be

vital for the company in the long run. Depending on the type of audience, diff erent types of

PR can be distinguished. Th ey are summarised in Table 10.1.

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